Clinic visit summary

Wren's cardiac clinic visit was a success. We managed to get the echo done without too much insanity, little crying and only one whizz through the Baby Einstein video. The high point was a little light-up spinner toy Henry (the tech) gave us. He intespersed the echo with news from his road trip from the midwest a few weeks ago.

The echo showed Wren's heart to be stable - coarc has turbulence around it but the arch is "wide open". The LVOT area still has turbulence but the velocities were similar to last time and the valve is doing well - no leakage or additional problems. There is still a bit of thickening of the LV wall but no increase from previous studies.

Dr Lewin said this suggested Wren was in the "chronic stage of this condition". As Josh said "we would prefer he was in the resolved stage of this condition" but chronic is better than acute, right?

His blood pressures were a bit high(er) than normal but no-one seemed to concerned as he was very agitated while they were taken.

He weighs 8.21 kg or 17 lbs 15oz.

No EKG was done.

Dr Lewin and the nurse feel that the iron supplement could be contributing to his bad sleep. Dr L said we should discontinue it as it can be very irritating to the stomach. I was giving it to Wren at night and it may have given him a sore stomach. Nurse Jenny said she was sure he was teething.

We go back in 3 months and are okayed for the road trip to California this summer IF the leg issue is resolved and it should be in time.

Meanwhile, Dr Lewin is concerned about the leg. He says it may be simple vein compression but it could be that the cath created a pathway between the vein and artery in his groin. This could reduce circulation to his leg. He wants us to have a doppler ultrasound study of his leg to see what is going on. We have one scheduled for Friday afternoon at 2pm.

Meanwhile, Wren is to lie flat more often and try to sleep flat too - not in the wedge. We should avoid positions that put extra pressure on the back of his thigh like extended carseat rides and sleeping in that position, at least until it is diagnosed and resolved.

A great treat on our visit was to run into Wyndi, Izzy and Stephen (after a vascular clinic visit) and Christopher, Kenia and baby Sophia (just back from Sophia's arterial switch surgery at LPCH in Stanford). I feel very happy to have met Sophia. She has a delicate sweet face and was managing to sleep through many distractions. She makes Wren look like a complete thug with his size. I hope their clinic visit was as uneventful as ours and we get to catch up with them at a support group meeting in the months ahead.